State Told Of Fatal Flaw In Day-care Inspections

September 15, 1998|By Cornelia Grumman, Tribune Staff Writer.

The state's child-welfare agency inspected the day-care center where little Danny Keysar was strangled by a defective crib only eight days before the tragedy occurred, according to emotional testimony given to a panel of Illinois lawmakers Monday.

And had state licensing procedures required inspectors to look for recalled equipment being used in day-care facilities, the 17-month-old might still be alive today, the boy's mother told members of the House Committee on Children and Youth. Officials with the Department of Children and Family Services said they will try to address such shortcomings in their inspection procedures.

The Playskool Travel-Lite portable crib model had been recalled in 1993, after three babies were killed in separate incidents when their necks were caught between the top rails.

"Current licensing standards simply do not protect our children from deadly, recalled nursery furniture and juvenile equipment routinely used in day-care settings such as high chairs, baby carrier seats and infant swings and other such products," said Linda Ginzel, 39, Danny's mother and a University of Chicago professor.

DCFS Deputy Director Mary Sue Morsch agreed to Ginzel's suggestions that product recall information be provided at orientation sessions for potential licensees, that special inventories of day-care equipment be compared with product recall lists and that a newsletter be mailed to providers and passed along to parents with product safety updates.

The hearing at the James R. Thompson Center came in response to news articles earlier this summer and an outcry by child-care advocates about other problems plaguing the state's day-care licensing system.

"Months and months of delays were hindering the ability of new programs to come on-line and for existing child-care programs to be re-licensed," said state Rep. Carol Ronen (D-Chicago), who chairs the committee. "These delays caused problems for the providers and most critically, limited the options available for parents seeking child care."